Youth Observer

Don’t give up

How many of us wake up early morning, have a protein shake / juice/smoothie before we go for a work out and come back and eat a pile of carbs?

Yes! I’ve done that a million times. It’s not only that, after the workouts at the Gym I always tend to eat a bit more than I should; hence I put on weight.

No matter how hard we try to motivate ourselves to go to the gym and eat healthy, the mind screams out saying “That’s enough! I can’t do it anymore. I should try doing something else.” Then it’s back to the normal routine “WORK, EAT and SLEEP.”

Sarrani Tillekeratne, qualified Personal Fitness Instructor & Fitness Model, was inspired and motivated to work out, as she did not feel right about herself. She wanted to lose weight, tone and look good. She achieved this by her constant training and a simple diet plan. I was lucky enough to have a conversation with her on this workout & diet plan.

Workouts are usually to lose weight and look good right? Well let’s talk about it then.

First and foremost, it’s best to check on your calorie intake and lifestyle. If you find the calorie intake calculation difficult, you can first start off by reducing or eliminating a few of the things that you love to eat which are the ‘Not So Healthy Fats’. Start having good fats if you are craving for a fit body!

One of the main points that we as youth should consider when working out is to stop drinking alcohol and high consumption of sugar. Cutting sugary foods will see a change in your body within a week. But it is advised when cutting down on carbs to take a slow road as to let the body get used to the new way of life.

Sarrani (Sari) recommends having carbs for breakfast & lunch and increase the proteins for the dinner. Sri Lankans, tend to pile up on rice and curry and less on proteins, vitamins and other minerals. This adds a lot of carbohydrates to our body; hence we need to reduce it if we are to lose or gain weight.

Regardless of what you want to achieve by working out one must include extra proteins like fish, red meat, eggs, chicken and dairy products, tofu, fruits and other veggies in meals post workout. It helps in getting the body heated, keep it fit, giving the recovery needed for the body after a workout, to build the muscles, to burn fat & most of all to reduce the craving for carbs.

For a person who has gained a lot of weight and is 10-20 kg more than their normal BMI, it is a waste of time to start working out with all heavy weight exercises. Start building your confidence and motivation to lose weight by taking small steps like running, walking for cardio. If you are unable to go to a gym or for walks, house walking is also recommended for an hour with deep breathing exercisers to get that heart beating faster. It is very important that you drink water and sweat it out.

Once a proper cardio session is done and you’ve come to a stage where you feel you are losing your weight, go for toning and muscle strengthening & tightening sessions. This way you can tone your body and prevent your skin from sagging.

Often people often think that a thin person should always eat lots of fats. NO, that is not true! If you want to gain weight, avoid the bad oils and fats and build healthy muscles. Calculate the calorie intake. A person who wants to gain weight should have carbs, proteins, and a good workout schedule, to tone and build muscle.

However, the body goals you want to achieve also depends on the accuracy and techniques you follow in your workout secessions. Therefore, it is advised to at least have a qualified personal trainer for the first 3 sessions to get to know the correct techniques of the exercises.

Protein shakes can be consumed mostly by the people who want to gain weight and for women who want to lose fat, Good fat which fights cholesterol such as fish oil, avocados, almond oil, almonds, almond milk and nuts can be consumed.

Sari also mentioned that there is no time when it comes to working out; the body needs ample time to relax after a good training. Women, need at least 6-8 hours of sleep as our bodies need more time to relax and recover.

Basically, a beginner should work out at least 3 days a week; this also depends on the individual. Gradually the number of days could be increased.

You can follow Sari on Instagram on physique.by.sari and she is more than happy to spare her busy time to answer any of the fitness related questions.

“When you look at yourself in the mirror and don’t like what you see, change it. Don’t brood about it. Take charge and start treating yourself right. When your see the pounds slipping off and the tight clothes start to fit you are excited and this will give you motivation to keep going.

Either you DO or GIVE UP!”

– Sarrani Tillekeratne

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The Sunday Observer is the oldest and most circulated weekly English-language newspaper in Sri Lanka since 1928.